Gang Member Charged in 7-Year-Old Girl's Murder

Second shooter still at large

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Jerrell Dorsey is charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm.

A West Side gang member was denied bond Sunday, after he was arrested and charged in the shooting death of a 7-year-old girl.

Chicago Police say 26-year-old Jerrell Dorsey is the man who murdered Heaven Sutton in front of her Austin neighborhood home last week.

Mayor Furious About Child's Death

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the shooting death of Heaven Sutton on Wednesday isn't about crime, it's about a lack of values. (Published Thursday, June 28, 2012)

Dorsey is charged with one count each of first degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.

Sutton was helping her mother sell candy to neighborhood kids at a stand set up outside their home Wednesday night when two men approached the group and began shooting. The young girl was shot in the back and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour after being shot.

Gangs: Symbols, Colors & Hand Signs

The second offender remains at large.

"I still feel sick because they have someone in custody, but they don't have both of them," said Sutton's Mother Ashake Banks. "I want both of them, not just one of them. So I'm still mad and I'm still upset."

Her death raised questions about police effectiveness against gangs. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was visibly upset over Sutton's death during a non-related press conference while answering a reporter's question about his gang strategy.

Banks said the shooting is gang related and knows the shooters. One of the offenders has been sending threats on Facebook, according to Banks who would not reveal his name, but had a clear message for him.

"I'm not going to sit back and rest," she said. "The message you sent me on Facebook, the same to you, sweetie. And God have mercy on your soul, where ever you all make it to."

Emanuel issued a statement through his office about the person in custody.

“I want to thank the Austin community for working with the Chicago Police Department to provide leads in the shooting death of 7-year-old Heaven Stutton," he said. "No parent should have to endure this type of pain. Bringing Heaven’s shooter to justice will not bring her back, but I hope it will provide some level of solace to her family."

Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy also issued a statement Saturday afternoon announcing a person had been taken into custody and included a message for Banks.

"While no family should have to endure the horrific and senseless loss of a young child, it is my hope that it will give Heaven's family some measure of solace to know we will not rest until we bring the person responsible for this tragedy to justice. We must do everything we can as a city and a Department to ensure that we do not lose another child to violence."